CTV Vice President Richard Gray appeared at the Commons Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Thursday to address the outlet’s recent story-splicing scandal. CTV National News was forced to apologize on-air for deceptive edits on a September 22 story about Tory Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, who is the only leader of a Commons-recognized political party to call for the demolition of media subsidies. The federally subsidized broadcaster spliced Poilievre’s comments to manufacture a statement he never made. Gray after making his opening statement denied CTV received federal subsidies. “Unlike the CBC, CTV, nor CTV News, receive any subsidies from the government,” said Gray. “In fact, we're required to spend at least 30% of our annual revenue each year, which amounts to $1.2 billion, on Canadian programming expenditures. At the same time as all of this, we are losing $185 million a year on our television operations, including a loss of $40 million on news alone.”“So CTV hasn't received any regulatory relief or no wage relief in the last nine years. Is that your contention?” pressed Conservative MP Michael Barrett.“We receive no subsidies from the government,” replied Gray. “The question was regulatory relief or subsidies for wages in the last nine years,” said Barrett. “So there was a decision made by the federal government recently that amounted to having a $40 million impact on Bell Media, but it was not a subsidy,” said Gray. “It was, in fact, the elimination of a tax on our revenues that had existed since 1997 — $40 million in regulatory relief, and $122 million in subsidies for wages. The $40 million was not a subsidy.”“Sir, you're correcting something that I didn't say,” said Barrett. “So let's just get off on the right foot here. I refer to it as regulatory relief. $40 million in regulatory relief. Did you receive $40 million in regulatory relief?”“We received $40 million in relief through the alienation of the tax,” said Gray. The committee then turned to CTV’s recent creative reporting. “We have very rigorous and steadfast policies that spell out the expectations as to how our journalism is conducted,” said Gray. “What occurs in the newsroom on a daily basis is that all of our team members are expected to follow those policies to the absolute letter. And with respect to particular news stories, they are all vetted by a senior member of the team prior to them going to air to ensure they are factually correct and there are no legal issues with respect to the content.” .Liberals call media criticism an ‘attack on Canadians’ after CTV edited Poilievre’s comments.In the September 22 case, “those policies and codes of ethics were violated by two individuals at CTV National News," said Gray."In one case, a reporter altered a script after it had been approved by the producer, significantly changing the meaning and the intent of a particular clip to better suit the requirements of the story they were attempting to tell. In the second case, an editor spliced two fragments of two segments of a statement together, creating a clip that hadn’t actually been spoken, in order to cover a technical issue with the original recording.”“In my 33 years working in television news, I cannot recall anything similar to this ever happening before.”He went on to say that the misleading reporting was a mistake and did not have malicious intent. .Poilievre pledges to defund all federal media subsidies.Tory MP Andrew Sheer asked Gray to go back to his remarks on the reporter and editor who altered the footage. “You said the clip was altered. You showed Canadians something that never happened. And you’re telling us now there was no intent to misinform Canadians, but it had to be cut out for time,” said Sheer. “The words that were cut out were ‘climate change election.’ I just timed myself. That took about 1.2 seconds. You’re telling me that there was no intent to misinform Canadians, and they had to cut this down for length, and it would be understood the quote from the Conservative leader was about a carbon tax election — even though you removed the words, ‘carbon tax election.’”“I want to be clear. That was the explanation from those involved. That was not my explanation,” replied Gray. “What do you believe the motive was?” asked Sheer. “It is not for me to determine what the motive was.” .Foreign interference reports reveal CCP media’s influence in Canada.The committee also discussed “disinformation” and the erosion of trust in Canada’s democratic institutions, where Gray said it wasn’t news organizations that are untrustworthy, but social media that stirs up disinformation — and mainstream media broadcasters like the CTV pay the price for the lack of public trust. “So disinformation is mainly caused by social media, and you are the victims of it, should I understand it that way?” asked Bloc MP René Villemure. “I would say that is the prevailing factor, at least from my perspective, in this country,” replied Gray. He acknowledged there has been a “general erosion” in public trust in Canadian institutions, including the media, in the last few years. “There has been a shift in our society where there is a more prevailing attitude that if you’re not with us, you’re against us.”“We made a mistake,” said Gray. “It was a mistake that was impossible to foresee. We apologized immediately. We took follow up steps to ensure that our standards were being met. As a result of that, we made the decision those two employees would not be part of CTV or Bell Media.” Conservative MP Frank Caputo asked if Gray had talked to the two former employees to get their motives. “I did not speak with them beyond having a brief initial conversation with the reporter,” said Gray. “We are getting ready here for a carbon tax election. At the end of the day, is there one thing that you have done to ensure this won’t happen again?” asked Caputo. “Yes, we’ve terminated two individuals,” replied Gray. “Sir, you have countless other employees. That was possibly the worst answer you could have given. That is retrospective. What about moving forward?” said Caputo. “Why is it always the Conservatives that are fighting this battle? Why is it that when it comes to Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, they are not misquoted, but when it comes to the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre, this type of thing can happen, and it is shameful?”“I disagree with your characterization,” replied Gray.
